Blll

Hey Lance, caught a few yesterday doing what you do. Question, what rods & line are you using? I just used my trolling Ugly Stiks and those poor crappie just skim along the surface. Not much fun just reeling em' in.

OK, a report from Wednesday am. Pulled flicker shad around Bear Island. 15-35 fow. Caught several crappie, with 4 keepers, just shy of a dinner. WT 80-82 Pretty morning but kinda slooooow. Not my favorite method of fishing but it beats yard work. 2 trailers at Rt. 12, not many out. Saw no one fishing in PC. Water very dirty.

Thanks guys! That's it!

I've been told there is a restaurant on Beaver Lake where you can dock your boat and they run you up the hill on a golf cart. Many people have told me about it but no one seems to know the name of the place or where exactly it is. Most say it is around/near Rocky Branch. I wanted to do something different for the wife on our 22nd anniversary and thought this might work. Sorry about a non-fishing post but since it is just about Beaver I thought I'd try it. If you know the name or where it is, please let me know. Thanks!

Had not fished for way too long. Finally have power to our dock and trolling batteries fully charged. Out I went on Wednesday with a late start. Fished from 7am til 10 am. Hot, sunny, flat calm, pulling crawlers, 15-25 fow. Averaged a bite every 10 minutes for 21/2 hours. Missed a few, caught most. A Beaver Lake hodgepodge. Catfish, small stripers, white bass, spots, LM bluegill short walleyes, and a fun 6#+ sheephead. Bite stopped dead at 9:30. So today I hit the water at 6am. Cloudy, cooler, and a slight breeze. Conditioned crawlers fighting me on the hook. Perfect right? You see where this is going. 3 hours without a single bite. First skunk of the year. 60+ years of fishing and I still haven't figured it out. WT 80

Stump, I agree that clearer water makes sense and Zebras will do that. But in the process they filter out (eat) the tiny nutrients that support the beginning of the food chain. The Lake Erie smallmouth success is coupled with the explosion of gobies that they eat and can now see easier. Besides the intake pipes being clogged, every boat lift and dock would also become a colony with eventual failure to function. I'm sure no expert but coming from Illinois where Lake Michigan was perhaps the 1st lake invaded, I've witnessed what they can do. The perch fishing in Lake Michigan has all but ended because there is no food for the fry. My boat lift would have to be scraped every fall because they would get into the joints and cable runs. Trust me, we don't want them in Beaver. JMO

I've read recently there is a proposal that bait cannot be used on Beaver that is caught from other lakes. The concept is to keep out zebra mussels, asian carp and any other invasive species. I was wondering if any of you had heard/read about this and what is your take. Initially it sounded like a great concept. then I wondered if it meant a whole new issue of bait dealers netting on Beaver to provide legal bait to all our striper guides. I know some guides catch their own bait, but many more buy or catch it elsewhere. We seem to be blessed with lots of shad and our fish population seems healthy. In my 4 years here, I'm catching many more and larger bass than when I arrived. I'm sure partly because I have at least a glimmer of better knowledge but there also seem to be more bass. High water spawns etc have helped but I also think its because of our bait/prey balance. I think and have heard from other there seems to be a decline in the White bass numbers. Just a cycle? Maybe. I'm just concerned that a big chunk of the shad being commercially removed may have a negative impact. JMO Any one else heard of this?

This. I'm not holding secrets on my phone and if someone looks at my pictures of fish its ok with me. My wife locks hers up like a drum.

Interesting topic. I've used the grub, 2"-3" since they came out 40+ years ago. When I moved to Arkansas 4 years ago, they were my first choice to try and lo' they caught fish here, bass, crappies, whites and walleyes. Like Stump said, I always had a rod rigged with one. But the last two seasons I've fallen under the spell of the Ned too with increasing success. This year the Keitechs have really worked for me to where I no longer have a grub rigged. Grubs never stopped working but I think there are options that may work better. Fad or fact, I don't know. I have a dock neighbor who throws nothing, and I mean nothing, except a 1/4 oz white roadrunner. He catches lots of fish and has way less $$$$ invested. He even uses them for trolling. I think confidence in what you're using is important and fish really aren't that picky. If you're using a spinnerbait, how many changes in color, blades or size do you make in a day? Same with cranks, If you've got a wart tied on, do you also try DT's, Bombers etc. on the same outing. I've fished with guys that change lures every 30 minutes or less unless they are getting bit. Is location or what you're throwing more important? Back in April, My buddies from Chicago came fishing. I had them all rigged with the same 3" Keitechs that had been working for me. All the same swim jig but one had a black head. The guy with the black head scored a hat trick (1st fish, biggest & most) all 3 days. Questions for the ages.

AMEN to that! Sounds/looks like a great trip. Double thumbs up on the walleye. We are blessed to live here and love to share it. Ya'll come back!

Hey Dan, sounds like some great weeks ahead. We will all live vicariously from your posts as no one here seems to be out fishing. Hoping to have power on our dock by next week then look out bass!

Love to make rods too. Had only self made rods in use up until last year when they got stolen over July 4th. Insurance was fair but I had to buy rods to finish season. Working on a drop shot now. Love Mudhole. RPS, how come such a short rod for topwater?

Made the drive from 12 bridge to the dam for a family outing. Lots of floating and partly submerged wood to Coppermine. Water brown to Rocky Branch and then dingy past point 5. From Starky to the bridge the water was clear. Spent the day near Lost Bridge and could see the anchor in 15fow. Water temp most everywhere was 72. Plenty of boaters out. Grand day.

Hey Dan, nice smallies! Water looked pretty clear last week. Wonder how the weekend rains have muddied it up again. FYI. Rt. 12 ramp is a mess with debris all around it and water lapping at parking spaces.

I too try to let them be outside and don't bother them. But when one wound up in my garage, I had to react quickly and end him. My main worry was he would get under my shelf units and I'd never find him........but I would always know he was in there somewhere.

Well just to weigh in another opinion, I'm not knocking the divers right to shoot fish legally or the skill required to do it. But why not focus on shooting carp and gar (not the endangered alligator)? Bigger fish, more skill involved and very little backlash. Like all kept fish, I hope these at least wound up on a plate. I'm not sure about the regs on spear fishing but aren't bow fishermen limited to certain species? Seems the same would apply to spear fishing. No CPR with that technique.

Be careful. Looks like only a few odd colors at $1.98. Just sayin'

Stump I've had a Merc for 15 years and I'm just tried of their penchant for hard cold starting. But I think the smallest G2 is still a 150hp so you may not have that option to consider. If I repower, I'm sure going to look at the G2 before going 4 stroke. JMO

Ate lunch at the Rt. 12 ramp lot. The huge debris field has moved or sunk for the most part. Water is still brown but clearing. Area between islands look ready for planting. Water still well up into the parking lot.

In a former life up north, used to do a fair amount of muskie fishing. I was the 3rd guy in the boat and saw a horrific accident involving a cradle landing and a crank bait hooked muskie. With the cradle, you're right at water level with a fully loaded muskie rod coming right at you. Fish came loose and the bait hit the cradle man right in the puss. One treble in the eyebrow, another under his eye. God was watching and had the middle treble facing out so it missed his eyeball. I'll never use a cradle and the longer the net handle the better. I never fish without eyewear. even at night I wear clear safety lenses. My sons think I'm anal but I've had too many bounce off my glasses to stop now. Thanks Phil!

Could not make a commitment to a Bink's trip this spring. How did they go? Did they happen? Very interested in everyone take. Maybe next year.

Hope you get a reply or two. I haven't seen a trailer parked at the Rt. 12 lot this week. Does not seem to be many guys out. Good luck if you go out.

Yep, and they usually aren't spots, although this year were some of the largest spots I've seen weighed in.

Hats off to the FLW fishermen who caught thousands of bass in really tough conditions. Too bad most of the non-fishing events washed out. I went to test ride the Evinrude G2 on Saturday but they didn't show up. I was disappointed that while watching the live feeds (its raining what else could I do?) that several of the "pros" tossed their used plastic in the lake. Wanted to reach in the screen & shake em'. People emulate them and it was a bad example. Our dock partly broke loose. Electrical out, walkway in 20 fow. Grrr...Better days ahead.

They left on time this morning. From reports it's pouring but the fish are biting.